Reversible tamping bar

ABSTRACT

Railway ballast tamping mechanism has an oscillatable shaft terminating at its lower end in a nose which has a lateral bore. A pair of tamping tool supports have similar lateral bores adapted to be aligned with the nose bore to receive the shank of the bolt of a nut and bolt combination for securing the supports one on each side of the nose. The nose has faces inclined inwardly both from top to bottom and laterally from a vertical plane which contains the axis of the shaft and is perpendicular to the horizontal plane containing the axes of the bores. The nose has four of such faces, two on each side of and adjoining said plane, and the supports have opposed pairs of faces correspondingly inclined to mate with the nose faces so that any tendency of the supports to move upward places the bolt in tension.

United States Patent Stewart [4 July 18, 1972 REVERSIBLE TANIPING BAR Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Point Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Bertsch [72] Inventor. John Kenneth Stewart, Columbia, SC. A't0mey sman & Biggar [73] Assignee: Tamper Inc, West Columbia, SC. [22] Filed: Aug. 17, 1970 [57] CT Railway ballast tamping mechanism has an oscillatable shaft [21] Appl 64351 terminating at its lower end in a nose which has a lateral bore. A pair of tamping tool supports have similar lateral bores 52 U.S. Cl. ..1o4/10, 29/242, 287/107 adapted he aligned with the receive the shank [51] Int 0| 27/00 of the bolt of a nut and bolt combination for securing the sup- 53] Field of Search "104/13 287/107 1 1 1 1 ports one on each side of the nose. The nose has faces inclined i inwardly both from top to bottom and laterally from a vertical plane which contains the axis of the shaft and is perpendicular [56] References GM to the horizontal plane containing the axes of the bores. The nose has four of such faces, two on each side of and adjoining UNITED STATES PATENTS said plane, and the supports have opposed pairs of faces correspondingly inclined to mate with the nose faces so that any i ggg g f; f t

tendency of the supports to move upward places the bolt in p l O t 2,155,713 4/1939 Jargick ..l04/13 enslon 1 Claim, 1 Drawing figure Patented July 18, 1972 TE VgART ZJ d INVENTOR JOHN K S ATTORNEYS REVERSIBLE TAMPING BAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to railway ballast tamping mechanism wherein tamping tools at the lower end of an oscillatable shaft are inserted into railway ballast and the shaft is driven to make the tools work the ballast.

Obviously the tools are subjected to a great deal of wear and easy replacement thereof would be desirable. It should also be obvious that problems arise in trying to provide for easy replacement of the tools since any of the ordinary means utilized for releasably retaining tools or the like would, in the case of tamping equipment, be subjected to a great deal of vibration and would soon prove to be unsatisfactory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide for easy replacement of tamping tools by mounting them in a novel manner.

Thus, according to the invention, there is provided a railway ballast tamping mechanism comprising a vertical shaft adapted to be driven in an oscillatory manner about its longitudinal axis, and a pair of tampering tool supports adapted to be mounted on the lower end of said shaft, said tool supports having confronting surfaces which meet in a plane which contains the longitudinal axis of said shaft, said shaft having a nose at the lower end thereof, said nose having an aperture therethrough at right angles to said plane, said tool supports having similar apertures therethrough for alignment with the nose aperture when assembled, a bolt for passage through the aligned apertures, a nut for the end of said bolt, said tool supports having confronting recesses in said confronting surfaces to receive the nose, the nose and the tool supports having downwardly and inwardly inclined mating faces on either side of said plane, the inclinations of said faces being such that any tendency of the tool supports to be pushed up along the nose as they are being forced downward into railway ballast to be tamped causes said tool supports to be urged away from one another to place said bolt in tension.

DETAILED DESCRlPTlON OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The accompanying drawing is a fragmentary, exploded, perspective view of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, one of the tool supports being shown in phamtom to permit a fuller showing of the other tool support.

The tamping mechanism shown has a shaft 1 adapted to be oscillated about its longitudinal axis 2 by suitable known drive means (not shown) at the upper end of the shaft. The shaft has a nose 3 at its lower end, which has lateral surfaces 4 on either side of and equally spaced from a vertical plane 5 which contains the axis 2. A bore 6 extends through the nose from one lateral surface 4 to the other. A pair of wedging surfaces 7, 8 are formed on the nose and a similar pair are formed on the diametrically opposite side of the nose, each of these surfaces extending inwardly both from top to bottom and laterally from plane 5.

A pair of tool supports 9, 10 are adapted to be mounted on the nose 3 and carry tools in the form of tamping blades 11. Each support has a bore 12 adapted to be aligned with the bore 6 to receive the shank 13 of bolt 14 which cooperates with nut 15 to hold the nose and the supports in assembled condition. The support 9 has faces 16 which mate with the faces 7 on the nose and the support 10 has faces 17 which mates with the faces 8. These faces 16 and 17 form the sides of recesses 18 which are formed in confronting faces 19 of the supports. In the embodiment shown, the recesses divide the confronting faces, in each case, into two face parts and 19b.

By virtue of the described inclination of the faces 7 and 8 on the nose and the corresponding inclination of the faces 16 and 17 on the supports, tightening of nut 15 on bolt 14 will create a downward push on the supports and any tendenc of the tool supports to ride up on the nose as the blades 1 are being pushed down into railway ballast will place the shank of bolt 14 in tension so that the supports will grip the nose more tightly and at the same time the bolt will be exerting a greater downward push on the supports. Thus, as soon as the upward pressure on the tool supports is relieved, they will automatically loosen and will not be likely to jam or become solid with the nose but will be readily removable for replacement, once the nut and bolt have been removed.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Railway ballast tamping mechanism comprising a vertical shaft adapted to be driven in an oscillatory manner about its longitudinal axis, and a pair of tamping tool supports adapted to be mounted on the lower end of said shaft, said tool supports having confronting surfaces which substantially meet in a plane which contains the longitudinal axis of said shaft, said shaft having a nose at the lower end thereof, said nose having an aperture therethrough at right angles to said plane, said tool supports having similar apertures therethrough for alignment with the nose aperture when assembled, a bolt for passage through the aligned apertures, a nut for the end of said bolt, said tool supports having confronting recesses in said confronting surfaces to receive the nose, the nose and the tool supports having mating faces on either side of said plane which are inwardly inclined both from top to bottom and laterally from said plane such that any tendency of the tool supports to be pushed up along the nose as they are being forced downward into railway ballast to be tamped causes said tool supports to be urged away from one another to place said bolt in tension. 

1. Railway ballast tamping mechanism comprising a vertical shaft adapted to be driven in an oscillatory manner about its longitudinal axis, and a pair of tamping tool supports adapted to be mounted on the lower end of said shaft, said tool supports having confronting surfaces which substantially meet in a plane which contains the longitudinal axis of said shaft, said shaft having a nose at the lower end thereof, said nose having an aperture therethrough at right angles to said plane, said tool supports having similar apertures therethrough for alignment with the nose aperture when assembled, a bolt for passage through the aligned apertures, a nut for the end of said bolt, said tool supports having confronting recesses in said confronting surfaces to receive the nose, the nose and the tool supports having mating faces on either side of said plane which are inwardly inclined both from top to bottom and laterally from said plane such that any tendency of the tool supports to be pushed up along the nose as they are being forced downward into railway ballast to be tamped causes said tool supports to be urged away from one another to place said bolt in tension. 